Flare Trimming & Fender Cutting

PARTS & SUPPLIES NEEDED
YJ Flares
Fender Washers
Fender nuts & bolts (depending on the shape of yours)
Self tapping Sheet metal screws
Black Spray paint
Body color touch up paint


TOOLS NEEDED
Drill & Bits
Ruler or measuring tape
Paint pen (any color but your paint color)
Heat Gun
Box Cutter
Jigsaw
&/or Dremel with cutting disks
&/or Sawzall with metal blades
Assorted Sockets & wrenches
Jack Stands & floor jack

With the larger Q78-15 swampers I was going to have quite a bit of rubbing on the factory YJ flares in the rear. Knowing that I will be extending my wheelbase later on and going with TJ flares, I wanted to just open up the rear wheelwells & rear flares a bit without spending a ton of money. I got lucky in that someone gave me a set of spare rear YJ flares to experiement with leaving me my factory flares if I wanted to go back to them.

1. As you can see, my front end is OK because I moved the axle forward a tad with the offset perches, but the tires are definitly to close to the flares in the rear.



2. So I went ahead and removed the flares and started cutting them. You should also go ahead and put the rear end up aon jacks and remove the rear tires & wheels. You'll be playinhg around later with a sawzall or similar cuting tool and nobody likes to accidentally cut a tire. To cut the flares, I used the heat gun to warm up the back side of the flare and I cut off the little lip. I don't have a great picture of that process but it's pretty simple. The heat will allow the knife to cut right through the flare, but make sure you don't over heat them or they will melt completely. My rule of thumb was that as soon as a spot turned dark on the surface it was ready to be cut. Cutting the little lip off all the way around, then make a few relief cuts in the back side near the turns in the flare. This will enable you to open up the flare a little more. Here you can see the flare without the little lip, already installed.


3. With the flares cut up, bolt them on by reinstalling the top/center bolt. From here you will need to take a few measurements & determine how much you want to open them up. I did about 2-3" front & back of the flare. Start on one side of the flare and position it where you want it, then mark where the original hole in the flare falls on your body, with the paint pen. Do the same on the other side of that flare and on the other flare marking all your holes. Make you way around double checking where your want your marks ensuring boths flares are symetrical & astheticly pleasing to you. Remove the flares, drill your holes following with touch up paint. Take note that the front hole may no longer be accessible from the wheelwell and that bolt may have to go in from the inside of the cab. (If you have a helper, you can also mark where you want to cut your fenders at this time)

4. Reinstall the flares and mark where you need to cut. I suggest removing the flares again when you start cutting.


5. When you are done cutting, hit everything with touch up paint and reinstall the flares. You'll also need to get creative with the plastic pieces that keep the dirt out of the rear corners of the tub, hence the need for the sheet metal screws as shown in step 2.



6. The flares I used to mock things up were actually already trimmed on the outside by the guy that gave them to me. I had thought about leaving them that way6 for the extra clearance but changed my mind. Here is a shot with my factor flares back on. They have the same cuts on the back side but look a little more OEM to me. You'll also notice the ends of the flares tend to bend in toward the body because they are fighing to keep their molded shape. Again, I heated them up with the heat gun and worked them until that sat the way I wanted. As a side effect, I noticed the heat from the gun seemed to make the flares a nicer darker & shiner black, like they were when they were new, so I went over all 4 which is why they look nicer than the first pic. The last thing I will point out is that because you trimmed off the little inner lip to make the flares workable, you open yourself up to dirt & mud coming up through between the flare & body. Using the largest fender washers you can will help keep the flares tight and prevent this. If you are really worried about it you could cut out a piece of 1/4" steel to fit inside the flare and pinch the entire thing down against the body. Since I know I'm going to TJ flares and since mine seem plenty tight, I'm not worried about that.